Almost 10 years after the Islamist attack that decimated its editorial team, the ever-provocative and perpetually out-of-bounds French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is organizing an international cartoon competition themed “Mocking God” (#RireDeDieu / #MockingGod) to denounce “the imposition of all religions’ on society.

Twelve people died on January 7, 2015 when jihadists attacked the offices of the weekly newspaper which had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Addressed “to those who are tired of living in a society controlled by God and religion, to those who are tired of being harassed with so-called good and evil, to those who are tired of all the religious leaders dictating how we should live”, the newspaper invites them to participate in the international contest: “Plan your outrage against the imposition of all religions on your liberties.”

The competition will end on December 15 and is open to professional cartoonists and cartoonists of all ages. The paper will publish “the best sketch or sketches”.

Charlie Hebdo’s editorial line has always been atheistic. On the first anniversary of the jihadists’ attack on its offices, the weekly published a special issue: the cover featured a bearded God, armed with a Kalashnikov and blood-stained clothes, with the caption “a year later, the killer is still on the loose”.

In late August this year, two Catholic organizations filed a lawsuit against the satirical newspaper for “inciting and inciting religious hatred” because on August 16 it published a cartoon of the Virgin Mary with the caption “Monkey pox: first appearance of the virus in Europe.”